Blurred vision
When our nation underwent the crackdown on 25 March, 1971 many people sought refuge in India and also many were surprised to find heaps of soil around Esplanade and consequently the emergence of gridlocks affecting the passengers and pedestrians alike in the metropolis Calcutta, West Bengal.
The government of West Bengal led by the chief minister Mr. Siddhartha Shanker Roy in the '70s executed a contract with M/s Technostroiexport, Moscow, USSR for setting-up the underground metro rail system in Calcutta. Earlier, the President of Pakistan Mohammad Ayub Khan was amazed while visiting the pavilion of M/s Technostroiexport at a trade fair in Moscow. Thanks to the CPI (M) government led by Mr. Jyoti Basu for not abandoning the master plan of metro formulated by the preceding Congress government.
Nearly a decade after the independence, considering the gravity of the traffic movement in Dhaka city, my brother and myself flew to Moscow by an Aeroflot TU 134 aircraft in 1980 and landed on the following day. After a lengthy session we secured the agency of M/s Technostroiexport in Bangladesh.
With much valuable time, energy and money to expend we could finally submit the project proposal of the metro system for the capital city Dhaka to the appropriate authorities of the government of Bangladesh (GOB) 28 years back with continuous follow-up phone calls, visits and meetings.
Our nation had been blessed with not only patriotic, honest and hardworking citizens but also with several policy and decision makers living with a blurred vision.
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